Cultural and Artistic Transfers in Theatre and Music: Past, Present, and Perspectives

0546587 - ÚČL 2022 RIV SK eng M - Monography Chapter
Kopecký, Jiří
Czech Opera Competitions and Their Effect on the Czech (and Slovak) National Theatre.
Cultural and Artistic Transfers in Theatre and Music: Past, Present, and Perspectives. Bratislava: Art Research Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Institute of Theatre and Film Research, VEDA Publishing House of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, 2021 - (Mojžišová, M.), s. 139-156. ISBN 978-80-224-1911-6
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA20-15595S
Institutional support: RVO:68378068
Keywords : Czech national opera * opera competitions * Bedřich Smetana * Antonín Dvořák * Zdeněk Fibich * Karel Bendl * Leoš Janáček * Josef Bohuslav Foerster * Karel Kovařovic
OECD category: Specific literatures

The primary opera repertoire of the first seasons of the Slovak National Theatre was irreplaceably composed of works by the “classics” of Czech music in the second half of the 19th century. The study attempts to answer the possibilities of transferring the works of “Czechslavonic” composers to the national theatre of another ethnic group. The key to the possibilities of such a transmission could be encoded deep in history, specifically in the historical background of the announced opera competitions (1869, 1882, 1895). The ambition of these opera competitions was to strengthen the national repertoire and at the same time draw attention to Czech music abroad and in Vienna. Surprisingly, many authors did not take part in these opera competitions (B. Smetana, K. Bendl, Z. Fibich, K. Kovařovic, J. B. Foerster), however, many works were created in their time and were able to fulfil the announced conditions, some of these compositions survived in the long-term repertoire (e.g. works by A. Dvořák, L. Janáček). Smetana's The Bartered Bride even became a fundamental part of the repertoire of all Slavic opera houses, respectively non-German nations of the crumbling and eventually extinct Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0323050